1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a decorative mirror box provided with interior reflective surfaces. More specifically, the present invention is a mirror box having a small opening in one of the reflective walls permitting a person to observe the interior cavity of the box by looking through the opening. The interior cavity of the box is decorated with various ornamental objects to provide a fanciful miniature scene to the observer.
2. The Prior Art
Boxes containing interior reflective surfaces are known in the art as means for displaying jewelry and other merchandise. These display boxes allow several sides of merchandise to be viewed without touching or moving the merchandise. These display boxes normally have a clear or transparent piece of material through which the observer views the merchandise. However, the clear or transparent piece of material also permits a reflection of the observer to pass into the box and be reflected by the interior reflective surfaces. The reflection of the observer on the reflective surfaces is not distracting when merchandise is being displayed in the box, but when the box is used to create a fanciful miniature scene, such as in the case of the present invention, the observer's reflection is undesirable.
The present invention minimizes this undesirable reflection by providing a small opening in a reflective wall of the box through which the observer can look to view the interior of the box. Also to help eliminate the observer's reflection, a light source is provided within the box as a means of illuminating the box's interior. Utilizing the interior light source, the observer can dim or eliminate lighting exterior to the box when viewing the interior of the box, thus further minimizing the observer's reflection within the box.
Another drawback with prior art display boxes when used to create a fanciful miniature scene is that they generally are provided with parallel front and back reflective interior surfaces. When the front and back reflective interior surfaces are parallel, the observer sees objects within the box as a tunnel-like series of identical reflections which diminish in size. This orderly repetitive appearance is not desirable when attempting to create a fanciful miniature scene.
The present invention overcomes this problem by providing a back reflective interior surface which is not parallel with the front reflective interior surface. In providing non-parallel front and back reflective surfaces, the present invention creates reflections of the objects within the box which the observer sees as randomly located images of varying sizes and which are seen from varying perspectives around the box's reflective interior surfaces. The effect achieved from this arrangement of front and back reflective interior surfaces is useful in creating a fanciful miniature scene.